NYCs Elizabeth Street Garden fights to stay open days before eviction but city isnt budging: Were not packing up

They aren’t letting their garden down.Organizers behind Nolita’s beloved Elizabeth Street Garden are fighting to keep the space open with just days left until it’s evicted — but the city isn’t budging yet on its plan to plow it over for senior housing.Garden officials, whose supporters include actor Robert de Niro, are pushing embattled Mayor Eric Adams to consider two alternative locations to build 123 units of affordable senior housing as the clock ticks to Thursday.“These sites could each provide 123+ units of affordable housing for seniors along with additional housing,” garden officials said of the proposal in a Saturday X post.“This is a true win-win without any loss.”The garden finally received its eviction notice earlier this month after more than a decade-long battle with the city and developers.

A judge ultimately ruled against the garden in May while it was appealing its 2021 eviction case.City Council Member Christopher Marte told The Post he has been working with garden officials for years to pinpoint alternative sites – such as a Department of Environmental Protection water facility lot and a federal parking lot – but none have been able to sway city officials so far.“In the past year or so, the [Adams] administration has said, ‘we’ll just build on both public lots,’ even though there’s no longtime commitment to build on either of those lots,” Marte said.The latest plan to save the garden consists of two private lots that the “city can’t build on themselves,” Marte said, with two existing buildings and significantly more housing and retail space than currently proposed.The owners of both the buildings are already “on board” with the proposal, the garden’s executive director Joseph Reiver told The Post – as the garden braces for its eviction this week.“While they [the Adams administration] remain open to discussing the sites, they’ve also continued with the eviction,” Reiver said.“It’s a bit of...